The 4x4 enthusiast world is all abuzz (no pun intended) this week with the announcement of the Bollinger B1, an all-electric off-roader designed with a utilitarian flair that seems to take some design cues from the lines of Land Rover Series and Defender vehicles. The boxy shape with flat panelwork and sparse detailing are enough to make one think that the resemblance may not be incidental.
While as with most all electric vehicles, the range is somewhat limited, the specification is still impressive and the design takes full advantage of the space created by the absence of a large internal combustion powerplant. Of particular note is the addition of a front “tailgate” that drops down just like the rear one and allows for very long items to be easily loaded and carted about.
Torque and horsepower, as is typical for electric vehicles, is enormous and is available almost instantaneously. Approach and departure angles are also impressive. It is built body-on-chassis just like the original Land Rover and most of its contemporaries. The interior looks pretty comfortable actually and probably spacious compared to a Series Land Rover or Defender.
My only complaint, and it is minor, is about some of the exterior detailing. I understand the desire and necessity in some cases of the “spartan” approach, but some of the grillwork does not really appear to have been given much thought. The body panels don't have ANY styling of any kind. Even the Series One Land Rovers with their flat sides, before Land Rover added the "tumble home" waist line feature in Series Two models, had a little more styling in the front fenders and galvanized brightwork. Creating such a vehicle, whether as an homage to the original Land Rover, with enough differences added to keep the intellectual property lawyers at bay, or whether it is done from whole cloth, opens the door to so many improvements over the original Land Rover design, improvements that Land Rover never made. So it will be interesting to see how these fare and whether they suffer, or benefit from the similarity.
Regardless of what happens, we want to drive one!
See the full Bollinger press release, technical specifications, more images, and other information here.
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